Music from the Faroe Islands

Tutl Records

Spælimenninir

(the folk musicians)
play traditional and contemporary folk music from Scandinavia. These six musicians have toured on both sides of the North Atlantic, playing for concerts and dances. The group is based in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands.

4. Uppi á einum kási - 1 (trad. Faroe Islands after Vilhelmina Larsen)
Kristian plays an instrumental interpretation of this skjaldur Skjaldur are a particular type of traditional Faroese song, sung a cappella by adults to children. The skjaldur that we play on this recording we have learned fiom Vilhelmbla Larsen, from the island of Sandoy.

5. Freeland's Jigs (Ívar Bærentsen)
Ívar composed these four jigs for the great Scottish accordion player Freeland Barbour.
We have had the pleasure of playing with Freeland on many occasions.

6. Umiaq (Kristian Blak)
This tune is based on a traditional drum dance tune front Thule in northern Greenland.
An umiaq is a type of Greenlandic boat.

7. Mazurka efter Otto Trads (trad. Denmark)
Jan plays this Danish mazurka. The Danish fiddler Otto Trads (190689) from Vest-Himmerland in Jutland is well-known and respected as one of the great carriers of the Danish fiddle tradition.

8. Erlings Polka/Erlendurs Polka (Ívar Bærentsen)
Ívar wrote these two polkas, one for Erling and one for Erlendur, a Faroese mandolin player.

10. Mads Doss (St. St. Blicher/J. Chr. Vendt)
Kristian sings this Danish folksong in a dialect fromJutland, accompanied by Sharon and Jan.
The song describes two young shepherds - a girl and a boy - each with a flock of sheep out on the moorland inJutland. They "happen" to meet more and more regularly to have their dinner together, and they fall in love - La la luh - la la lih.

11. Rundt på gulvet ( trad. Denmark)
We learned this reinlaenderpolka from a fiddler named Finn from Falster in Denmark. The phrase "rundt på gulvet" means literally "around (on) the floor", but is also used to mean Confused.

12. Engelen indgangen til Jomfru Marie (trad. Faroe Islands after AIbert Djurhuus)
- a Faroese hymn in the "Kingo-song" tradition. The Kingo-hymns have roots in medieval music and are, as all other traditional Faroese music, traditionally sung without instrumental accompaniment. Here we play art instrumental interpretation on recorder and piano.

13. Reinlender efter Ole Oksås (trad. Norway)
- a reimlender from Trøndelag, Norway, close to Jan's home in Jamtland.

14. Mikaels Polka (Erling Hansen)
The Danish fiddler Erling Hansen wrote this tune for Sharon and Kristian's son Mikael, who was two years old at the time.

21. Tolin hann sitter (Ívar Bærentsen)
Ívar sings this song in Faroese describing the turning point in a person's life from the material to the non-matenal, a return to the child in man. He is accompanied by Erling and Charlie.

23. Maivalsunn (Ívar Bærentsen)
A well known tune composed by Ívar, this waltz has become a standard in our repertoire.

24. Råby Hopsa (Marius Pedersen)
This Danish hopsa was composed around 1920 by fiddler Marius Pedersen from Raby in Jutland. Hopsa tunes make up an important and characteristic part of the Danish folk dance music tradition.